Shillong, Oct 28: The state government has termed illegal the sealing of Shillong Ropeway project’s property by the KHADC, citing the land belongs to the government, and lodged an FIR against a KHADC official in this connection.
The FIR was lodged at Laban police station against an inspector of Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) although nobody was arrested in this connection till filing of this report.
“We have reports that our site, the lower terminal point for the Ropeway project, has been seized by the inspector of the KHADC… It is a government property,” Commissioner & Secretary in-charge Tourism RM Kurbah said on Wednesday.
Terming the sealing of the lower terminal point at Lawsohtun illegal, Kurbah said the structure at the site is only a temporary camp set up by the department as per mandatory safety norms.
“For every project we have to set up a camp to ensure we follow safety norms before we start the project. This project is under the New Development Bank which specifies an environmental and social management plan to ensure environmental and social safety safeguards are maintained,” she said.
“Intruding into government space is not a welcome move…we have taken necessary action to take over the site immediately,” she added.
The Tourism Secretary asserted that no ropeway construction has begun and the allegations are unfounded.
“The purpose of the camp is to do soil testing, develop the approach road and levelling of ground. There is no construction as such till date. There has not been any digging of pillars — we have six pillars — no digging has been done for the terminal,” Kurbah said.
Giving a timeline to establish transparency, she said a work order was issued on October 25, 2025, NOC from Dorbar Pyllun was received on May 4, 2026 and application for trading license was moved to the district council on May 18, 2026.
“They applied for another NOC from Syiem of Mylliem on July 16, received a letter on July 28. On August 27, there was a show-cause issued to the contractor by the district council and the contractor replied. On September 28, NOC was received from Dorbar Myntri of San Kur and 11 Kur of Riat Laban Mylliem. So the process is ongoing,” she said.
Clarifying on the public consultation process, he said, “This is not like a road or highway project where we have to break down houses. In that case, we have a public hearing, but in this case we have a public consultation which is taken up with the Dorbar Shnong. The MIG had issued a letter to the Dorbar Shnong for public hearing. The upper terminal belongs to Raid Laban and the lower terminal belongs to the government. These two have been consulted in 2022 and there was no objection,” she said.
“Foundation was laid by the Chief Minister and the project was declared by the President of India. We have given enough scope for the public to know. Had they objected in 2022 when it was made public, we can understand,” she added.
On fears about Lum Shyllong, Kurbah said the sacred site is 3.15 km away from the project site and all issues raised were clarified in the meeting at the State Convention Centre.
